But I Smile Anyway…

Well, hello all!

I hope you are all well, and have your cuppa ready!

• Monday, and back to school for me! My class was up to 13 this week, with an addition to my ‘bubble’. We had great fun, writing letters to aliens! In my downtime, I spent hours and hours calling the parents of my new children, due to start in my class in September. It is very strange, you know. For most teachers, they are welcoming back chilren who have suffered a broken year of learning, but they have been to school before. For our Reception children, it is a WHOLE other scenario. Some of these children have never left their parents side, let alone been to nursery… And in less than two months we are going to be separating them from their carers, and plopping them into a new bubble, consisting of 29 other children, like them, shell-shocked, possibly crying, with no previous experience. Usually, we have transition days, where the children can come in for an hour to meet us a few times, and we also do home visits. With the pandemic, however, we can’t do any of this… So, the phonecalls were made, and I managed to get through to most of them. I can’t comment aas yet, but I am sure next academic year will prove to be interesting in many ways! The parents I spoke to were all lovely, and there was only one who couldn’t communicate, as she had little English! So… September… bring it on!
• Something lovely also happened… one of my TAs (Teaching Assistant) gave me a gift. I was not expecting it, but it was so touched. It is a personalised necklace for me!

• Something HUGE… I managed to write some new WIP words for Book two! I have been stuck in such a rut recently. The last couple of months have not been conducive to me writing, but I found my writing mojo! Here’s to me getting back into it!

• I even completed week 3 of Couch To 5K and for the first time, I ran a whole lap of our running track, without stopping! Granted, I am not running fast, because I don’t think my knee would forgive me, but I did it!

• On Sunday, we spent the afternoon watching Lil Man play his first match of the season. It was a friendly one, but such a lovely day!

This week is the last full week we are in school (half week next week) before the school holidays kick in. So, there will be more getting ready for the September. By then I hope we have more guidance from our Academy about how things are going to work, timetable wise, in September.

Lil Princess has her orthodontist appointment too, on Tuesday, so I’ll be juggling my timings at work, to fit things in. It is important to get started for her, preferably before term starts, so she can get used to everything before starting back at school.

Oh, and while you’re here, did you sign up for my mailing list? I am in the middle of writing an exclusive Chickpea Curry Lit story for my subscribers, and there will be news, tips and even recipes! You know you want to join… go on! Click the pic below to sign up!

What have you been up to?

Stay safe, my dear friends!

Well, hello there, my dear Peeps!

Fifteen weeks, and still counting!

Got your drink?

• Another week passed at school. I had my special Beaut back in class, this week (He’s my special needs child) I have been worried about him being at home, but equally, was worried about him being back in and adapting to the new routines and systems, but you knw what? He did really well! The rest of the week has been filled with paperwork, as we reaad new policies that have been sent to us by the government, regarding reopening to all pupils in September, including our brand new starters in Reception class. Such woolly advice! I’m just glad our head and the Senior Leadership Team is sensible enough, for the most part, the help organise things for us in the best way possible. I have some new responsibilities going forward, so am trying to prepare for them too!
• We had our two birthdays on the Monday, as you all know, so a socially distanced birthday cake was cut in the garden with a candle on a cupcake so he could blow it out, and not worry about blowing on the cake everyone was going to eat! Except it was blowing up a gale, so I had to hold the cake through the kitchen window, for him to blow the candle out! And we video called Mum and sang to her! We will have to meet to celebrate that 70th at a later stage.
• Fitness-wise, I have carried on with my Flat Tummy challenge, and the Plank Challenge ( I can hold a plank for 1 minute and 10 seconds!) and I completed week two of the CouchTo5K runs as well!

• The rest of the week flew by in a blur. I’m getting up early, but falling asleep fast too. The weekend was a mix of the boys visiting barber shops, and us girls attempting to get to the hair dresser too! Pubs and restaurants opened on Saturday, and as Lil Man and I went on our walk, on Saturday evening, I was slightly alarmed at how many people were out, and crammed in to certain venues! Don’t they get that the virus hasn’t gone away yet?

• I am also still trying to eat a Keto-style diet, and this weekend, I experimented with Keto bread… I’ll let you know what it tastes like next week… it’s cooling as I type!

This week, we are still at school, preparing for the grand reopening in September, as well as teaching our mini class that we have.

I also have the 2nd birthday of my Finndian nephew #2 on Wednesday. Can’t believe time is flying so fast!

Also, Lil Man is playing his first cricket match of the season, on Sunday, so fingers crossed for better, less windy weather!

Oh, and while you’re here, did you sign up for my mailing list? I am in the middle of writing an exclusive Chickpea Curry Lit story for my subscribers, and there will be news, tips and even recipes! You know you want to join… go on! Click the pic below to sign up!

What have you been up to?

Stay safe, my dear friends!

Hello, my dear Peeps!

Twelve whole weeks, we’ve adapted and adjusted. TWELVE!

Go, grab a drink, I’m here, waiting, with mine.

• The week started with school, for me. We had a training session booked, by a company called Team Teach. This had been booked pre COVID-19 and after a lot of umming and aahing, our management decided to ask who would be willing to do a socially distanced version of the training. Team Teach basically gives us the knowledge and understanding about restraining a child, if the need ever arose, and you’d be surprised the amount of times we need to know how to do this safely, gently, and correctly, with primary school childen. The training has to be done every three years to keep us up to date with all the changes that happen in the world, and this training came at a particularly sensitive time, what with the George Floyd case in hand. Now, as a training about suitable restraints and techniques, usually it is a very physical session, but as we couldn’t touch anyone, the trainer brought his wife along to demonstrate holds, and refresh our memories. It was good, though, because we had a lot of talking time, so we could discuss things like de-escalation, and diversion, and techniques that would avoid the need for physical restraint, if possible. But I tell you what, I ended up with a bad back after… sitting on one of those chairs for a whole day, in the hall, which was cold, was no fun!
• I had another day in with the children, a grand total of nine keyworker kids, which was fun, even though it rained the whole day! We did plenty of arts and crafts, then we spent time doing some of their online learning in the computer suite. One more morning was spent in school, tweaking and setting up the classroom, ready for the 15th, when my much reduced class is due to start back up.
• Home-wise, it’s been quiet. I haven’t really done much writing, but I read lots. Cooked, cleaned, did a lot of laundry and made two trips to the supermarket. I have been used to going on a Tuesday, during the lockdown, but as of tomorrow, I am back fulltime, so I did my normaal shop on the Tuesday, then went on Sunday for this week’s shop. We’ve been lucky, with no queues the last few weeks, but when I got there the second time, on a Sunday the queue was huge! Still, it moved quickly and I got all we needed.
• I have been carrying on with my brush lettering, and the final project was to make bookmarks. What do you think?

• Saturday marked the Queen’s official birthday, and usually the day is marked with much pomp and circumstance. This year the event waasa televised, and the Queen watched her guards from a little marquee in the grounds of Windsor Palace. See, we all have had to adapt… even the Queen.

• We decided to try a special make at home pizza kit this week, from a local business, Saucy Dough. They provide dough, tomato sauce and the cheese ready for you to roll the base out and make up your pizza yourself, before baking it. The kids really enjoyed it, and I liked adding my own toppings to it, too!

• I must tell you a funny story. Last week, I decided to run a FaceBook ad, which I have done once or twice before. I realised last time, that I needed to (unfortunately) leave out countries lile India and Pakistan, because of the unsolicited messages that would come from random men. But I forgot to take India off the country list this time… The ad below, is something like what I would have posted, with the same wording. This time, however, I have ended up with over a HUNDRED, if not more, messages from random, desperate Indian men, either sending hello, hi and good morning messages, or what can you do for me, style questions. And a marriage proposal from a 50-year-old, and a photo from a man, with him posing with his mother… (so I can see what a lovely mum he has?) but the worst? Proclaimations of love on my posts, and then… pornographic images! NOTE TO SELF: DO NOT FORGET TO TAKE INDIA OFF THE NEXT AD!!!!

• Aside from that, the world is still going mad, with the Black Lives Matter movement, and the demand to remove historic statues from places around Britain… I’m doing what I can, but I am upset with how some people are dealing with things…

This week, I am back to school fulltime, with my much reduced class, so I anticipate a lot of tiredness, and high emotions over the week. Time will tell how things go… wish me luck!

Oh, and while you’re here, did you sign up for my mailing list? I am in the middle of writing an exclusive Chickpea Curry Lit story for my subscribers, and there will be news, tips and even recipes! You know you want to join… go on! Click the pic below to sign up!

What have you been up to?

Stay safe, my dear friends!